Story-5/10
As previously mentioned, story is not this shows strong suit. Episode one did a fantastic job of drawing me in, but that unfortunately ended quickly. The next episodes follow a cookie cutter formula that make for an overall boring time. The villians introduced, with the exception of the Catholic Priest character, bring little to the table. The main trait of these villians are being artificial vampires, which is a pretty cool idea that is seldom expanded upon. Well, that's pretty much it, Hellsing doesn't bring anything to the table story wise, and we don't even get a character backstory until episode 10.
Art-7/10
Hellsing uses an artsytle similar to other anime of the late 90's and early 00's, like Cowboy Bebop. The fight scenes are very smooth and very good looking. The problems with Hellsings animation show up, well, everywhere else. The characters have very bizarre, blocky, walking animations. They must have been pressed for time or something, because I can see that they used still images at certain points during dialogue, or perhaps I've been spoiled by Kyoto animation. The show does a good job of setting tone with it's use of dark colors. I will also say that they used a lot of gore in this anime, and let me say, they nailed that too! It's just a shame that probably one of the best animated characters, Alucard, only has a few minutes in each episode.
Sound-8/10
The sound is another one of Hellsings strong points. The opening theme is a sort of Jazz-Rock blend, and you wouldn't think it would work, but it actually nails it. The ending theme sounds awesome, it's just that it doesn't fit, at all. Maybe if this was the ending theme to a lighter toned show, but I almost laughed when I heard it, like I just watched Alucard kick some ass, and now this. For this anime, I went with the dub (I usually do, then move to sub if I hate it). I'll honestly say, the dub is very well done for Hellsing. Being set in England, the dub actors had a slight advantage, being able to add British accents to the characters. The real star of the dub is Alucard, Crispin Freeman nails it! (like everything else he does, definitely not impartial or anything) The other actors, for the main and supporting characters, are well done too, it's really just the background characters that are mediocre, you know, the characters that have literally 2-3 lines the entire show.
Characters-5/10
The characters are a real double edge sword in this anime. I'll go over a few notes with each main character.
Alucard- Easily the best character in this entire show, Alcuard is a total badass! He is a recruit of the Hellsing organization to hunt vampires, artificial and true. This guy is the one who fixes everything when it goes to shit, and this guy may have beaten out Kirito for the most "Deus Ex Machina" character of all time.
Seras Victoria- Is a cop that was turned into a vampire by Alucard to save her life. She is reluctant at first, refusing to drink blood, but she grows toward the end. If there is one thing that annoys me about her is her lack of character.
Sentegra Hellsing- She is the leader of the Hellsing organization, inherited to her by her father. She is a badass character that I wish did a little more.
As you can see, you don't really get to know the characters a lot. My complaints come with the main character. In the beginning, you are lead to believe that Alucard is the main character, but SURPRISE, Seras is the main character. She isn't a terrible character, the vampire in training segments were interesting. It just seems like we never get to learn more about Alucard. It's kind of like test driving a Lamborghini, then buying a Prius, which one did you really want. Sentegra is the only other character that we know a substantial amount about, but even then, she leaves a lot of questions unanswered. What's the point of being able to kill everything, if we have no clue where they got that power from?
Enjoyment-5/10
This is an anime I really wanted to enjoy, but it fell short. This anime could have been so good, but I can't even attach myself to the characters, the fight scenes are cool, but 5 minutes out of a 24 minute episode isn't enough. I will say, there were moments during the middle of the anime that had me actually interested into what was going on, and I really thought the anime would redeem itself by the end. In fact, the end was one of the worst parts, the final villain felt rushed, and of course, Alucard effortlessly Desu Exed his way out of the fight. Overall, this anime can be brought down to one word: boring!
Overall-5/10
A mediocre anime, i'm sorry to offend long time fans, but I just couldn't get into this for the life of me. Perhaps, Hellsing Ultimate will redeem the series.
If you want a series that I would call, better. I recommend Chrono Crusade, it is the same tracking down monsters and sending them to hell experience, with a much better story. Thanks for reading my review, and I hope I didn't offend anyone!
